10.13.2010

A Veggie-Centric Chat With Jean-Georges

It seemed almost sacrilege to be sitting down with superstar chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten in his elegant J&G Steakhouse talking vegetables. But there we were, shunning the restaurant's red meat headliners, in favor of a chat about chestnuts, Jerusalem artichokes and butternut squash (more on that later), some of the chef's favorite fall ingredients.

"When I grew up, with my family it was always 70 percent vegetables, 30 percent meat on the table," Vongerichten said. "It feels like we're returning to that."

In light of our meatless conversation, I of course had to take the opportunity to tell him about my husband's addiction to the healthy, heat-packing Fire Breather elixir shot from Vongerichten's ABC Kitchen in New York. (Though Mr. Metrocurean got pretty close to recreating it, the chef kindly sent me the real recipe, much to my husband's delight.)

"I've been juicing for 20 years. After you turn 50, you do anything to live longer," the Frenchman laughed. "I don't even need coffee anymore."

The chef, whose wife grew up in McLean, was headed to Kushi for dinner that night, so I had to ask where else he'd managed to eat in DC. He raved about a meal at Komi and chef Johnny Monis' goat shoulder. (Man's got good taste.) He also professed a love for soul food and mentioned a stop a Georgia Brown's for Southern fried chicken.

The second course was a smooth and rich butternut squash topped with earthy mushrooms. (See, I would have topped it with bacon, but I'm learning from you, chef!) Vongerichten assured me that the recipe was extremely easy. And when a chef says that, to be honest, I rarely believe him.

But a few emails later and I had the recipe, which did look pretty easy. I made it last night and indeed, this could be the simplest butternut squash soup I've made. Check out the recipe: J&G's Butternut Squash Soup.